Why does Australia have such a high rate of biodiversity loss?

Yesterday the Queensland Government approved Waratah Coal’s proposed coal mine developments over the area that encompasses the Bimblebox Nature Refuge. Waratah still needs to seek Federal Government approval.

How do you tell the wildlife that people are planning to come and destroy their thriving, ancient ecosystems?

Photograph by Sonya Duus

Today part owner Paola Cassoni writes on Facebook:

“It’s a sunny Saturday morning here at Bimblebox, as if all the resident species didn’t hear yesterday’s bad news. Maybe they don’t understand some humans and the way they have to deal with those inhabitants in the path of ‘progress’. And I can’t explain it to all my wonderful guests, so this morning I will enjoy to be in the presence of their blissful ignorance.”

Biodiversity decline is the loss of variety in living systems. Decline can be measured through a number of characteristics: it can be decline in the number and range of species in a particular region, the loss of genetic diversity within populations of individual species, or more broadly, the loss and simplification of ecosystems.

Australia has experienced the largest documented decline in biodiversity of any continent over the past 200 years. Under the EPBC Act (End note 7), more than 50 species of Australian animals have been listed as extinct, including 27 mammal species, 23 bird species, and 4 frog species. The number of known extinct Australian plants is 48. Australia’s rate of species decline continues to be among the world’s highest, and is the highest in the OECD (End note 8).

The list of nationally threatened species continues to grow in Australia, with 426 animal species (including presumed extinctions) and 1,339 plant species listed as threatened under the EPBC Act (End note 9). Furthermore, there is some evidence that the rates of recovery once a species has been listed as threatened, whilst it is difficult to determine in short time periods, may be particularly low. In a study conducted on 38 threatened species recovery plans across every state and territory, evidence of ongoing decline in populations was displayed in 37 per cent of cases.

Species and ecosystems have complex and important interrelationships. Some species play important roles in the maintenance of ecosystems, and the extinction of individual species can have flow-on effects and impact significantly on the function of the broader ecosystem. The Cassowary, for example, plays an important role in the dispersal of rainforest seeds, with the rate of germination of many plant species significantly higher after Cassowary digestion of the seeds. Equally so, many ecosystems play significant roles in nurturing a variety of other species. Coral reefs and mangrove forests are both very important ecosystems in nurturing a great number of marine species. The decline of these ecosystems can affect hundreds of species that depend on them.